A study of an adapted social–emotional learning: Small group curriculum in a school setting

Clinicians and training programs strive to implement evidence‐based practices and manualized treatments with fidelity. However, the constraints of a local setting may limit the extent to which this is possible. In the current study, an adapted model of an evidence‐based social–emotional learning small group curriculum, the Incredible Years Children’s Small Group Training Series (Webster‐Stratton, 2004), was implemented and evaluated in an elementary school setting. Results of the study demonstrated statistically significant decreases in problem behaviors and intensity of problem behaviors, as rated by teachers. Teachers also reported improvement in classroom behavior, emotion regulation, problem‐solving, and friendship skills, as well as a high overall level of satisfaction with the intervention itself. Discussion of the results includes a review of the strengths and limitations associated with outcome research in a naturalistic setting, suggestions to consider when adapting evidence‐based programs, and recommendations for future research.     

What Makes a Student Group Successful? Student-Student and Student-Teacher Interaction in a Problem-Based Learning Environment

This study investigated student-student and teacher-student interaction in a problem-based course and looked at study success in relation to group dynamics and approaches to studying. Data for this study were provided by 31 law students who were enrolled in a course in legal history at the University of Helsinki in February 2001. The students were divided into three small groups that were tutored by one teacher. Both the students and the teacher were interviewed. The interaction between the students and their teacher, and the group dynamics of each subgroup, were observed during the tutor sessions. The results showed that the student groups were very different from each other in terms of study success, group dynamics and communication between the group members. One group achieved significantly higher grades than the other two groups. There was only one clear difference between the three groups. The interviews and observations showed that the students in the best group participated more evenly and actively in the discussions than students in the other two groups.     

Stability of overt Type A behaviors in children: results from a one-year longitudinal study

This paper describes the degree of similarity between repeated ratings (taken 1 year apart) of overt Type A behaviors in 2 samples totaling 633 children. The measure of overt Type A behaviors was the Matthews Youth Test for Health (MYTH), which was completed by the children's classroom teacher. Results showed that correlations between repeated MYTH ratings approximated .55 and in general increased somewhat with the children's school grade, although correlations between repeated ratings of competitive achievement behaviors of boys residing in an affluent eastern suburb were somewhat lower than above. The degree of similarity across 1 year in children's Type A behaviors is comparable to that found for adult Type A behaviors and for other cardiovascular risk factors in children. The discussion includes a consideration of assumptions underlying research on the origins of Type A behavior and suggests that etiological factors in the development of Type A might profitably be studied in primary school-aged children.     

An idealistic view of teaching: teacher students’ personal practical theories

Personal practical theories (PPTs) are built based on underlying beliefs, experiences, values and conceptions regarding ‘good teaching’. Having a vision of teaching and valuing the work may have a strong effect on one’s sense of identity, resilience and commitment. This study focused on Finnish teacher students’ (N = 84) PPTs constructed during the middle or at the end of their studies, on average during their fourth year of a five-year MA programme. All of the PPTs, written as statements (N = 647), were combined, and a unified conception of the theories was formed using inductive content analysis. The three main categories found were the foundations of good teaching, the teacher and the teacher’s daily work. The analysis of the statements shows that the notions of good teaching are very idealistic: they emphasise abstract ideologies and high standards for the teacher, but also everyday matters of teaching, although also here the ideology of the pupil’s individuality is at the centre. The paper concludes by arguing that it is good to have high aims and values for teaching, although in reality some of them might be difficult to achieve.     

The development of children at familial risk for dyslexia: Birth to early school age

Children at risk for familial dyslexia (n = 107) and their controls (n = 93) have been followed from birth to school entry in the Jyvaskyla Longitudinal study of Dyslexia (JLD) on developmental factors linked to reading and dyslexia. At the point of school entry, the majority of the at-risk children displayed decoding ability that fell at least 1 SD below the mean of the control group. Measures of speech processing were the earliest indices to show both group differences in infancy and also significant predictive associations with reading acquisition. A number of measures of language, including phonological and morphological skill collected repeatedly from age three, revealed group differences and predictive correlations. Both the group differences and the predictive associations to later language and reading ability strengthened as a function of increasing age. The predictions, however, tend to be stronger and the spectrum of significant correlations wider in the at-risk group. These results are crucial to early identification and intervention of dyslexia in at-risk children.     

Self-esteem as a predictor of future school achievement

Self-esteem as a predictor of future school achievement was studied in 1253 randomly selected adolescents. Self-esteem was assessed with the Coopersmith’s Self-Esteem questionnaire when the students started a Junior or Senior High School. School achievement was measured when they graduated. Self-esteem appeared to be a valid predictor of the future grade average. From the components of self-esteem, general self-esteem and home-parents predicted the future performance while social self correlated slightly negatively with school achievement. A gender based difference was found: in boys the role of self-esteem was similar in all school stages while in girls the self-esteem was more significant in a comprehensive (i.e. compulsory) school and its role decreased in the later, voluntary schooling.     

TEST ITEM ARRANGEMENT, TESTING TIME, AND PERFORMANCE

Two experiments were conducted to determine if a relationship exists between test item arrangements and student performance on power tests. The primary hypotheses were: item arrangements based upon item difficulty, similarity of content, or order of class presentation do not influence test score or required testing time. In the first experiment 122 subjects were randomly assigned to three item difficulty arrangements of 139 test items with a 0–100% difficulty range, and in the second experiment 156 subjects were randomly assigned to three item content arrangements of 103 items. Results of analyses of variance with test anxiety used as a classification factor supported the hypotheses.     

A treatment program for failure to thrive: A cost/effectiveness analysis

Failure to thrive (FTT) is a frequent cause for the admission of infants to the hospital. Such hospitalizations are often lengthy and expensive, and usually do not contribute to an understanding of the etiology of FTT. Generally, organic causes of FTT can be ruled out by a thorough history and physical examination. In this study two groups were examined: 17 infants who were admitted to foster medical placement homes (MPH), private homes with specially trained parents; and a comparison group of 18 infants who were treated in a more traditional way with diagnostic hospitalization. The groups were similar in all regards prior to admission. All infants were less than a year of age. Family disruption was a prominent feature in both groups, but socio-demographic analysis showed them to be similar in all areas studied. The comparison group gained an average of 276 grams in the hospital over 8.6 days. The MPH group gained 362 grams in the hospital over 8.7 days, with an additional 1270 grams in the medical placement home over 31.1 days. Five children were admitted to the medical placement home without hospitalization. After correcting for an expected weight gain of 15 grams per day (normal growth), the comparison group showed a catch-up growth of 16 gms/day, while the MPH group gained 29 gms/day in excess of expectation, almost twice the comparison group. A 100-gram weight gain cost +308 in the MPH program and +1,635 in the traditional approach. This five-fold difference was felt to be a significant deterrent to the continuing approach of admitting children to the hospital for for the workup of FTT.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)